Holland Sentinel Readers Confident in Amtrak

In an unscientific readers’ poll, the Holland Sentinel (MI) asked, “How has the Amtrak [Pere Marquette] train crash in Chicago November 30 impacted the likelihood of you riding the train in the future?”

Check out these astonishing results:

Not only are the majority of readers confident that the train is safe, there are more folks who would ride Amtrak after the crash than those who would avoid it!  As they say, all publicity is good publicity.  And for the safe mode of train travel, good publicity is well-deserved, even if the rare incident is regrettable.

While commercial aviation is also, for the most part, a safe mode of travel, I submit that a scary, non-fatal situation in the air is much more likely to draw strongly negative reactions.  On Sunday, my return trip from Miami was on American Airlines.  As we descended towards Reagan National Airport, strong winds in the area contributed to severe turbulence, the kind that makes the wings visibly flap and causes even iron stomachs to drop.  Perhaps a hundred yards from touchdown, the captain engaged full throttle and we aborted the landing.  At this point, several people were crying, a few were vomiting, and a woman behind me was in the grips of an uncontrolled panic attack.  We circled around for another landing attempt; the captain threw in the towel at about 1,000 feet and announced that dangerous 40-knot crosswinds were not worth the risk for our Boeing 737-800.

We were diverted to Dulles International Airport, where we landed nearly an hour late.  However, we parked on the tarmac and awaited paramedics to board to treat the sufferer of the panic attack.  Passengers were eventually allowed to exit onto the unique IAD people movers (“moon buggies”), which incidentally will soon be replaced in normal service by an intra-airport automated train system.  American chartered coaches to get everyone back to DCA, and by that point we were two-and-a-half hours late.

The incident with our flight apparently made the local news, along with an earlier MIA-DCA flight that day which was also diverted to IAD, due to mechanical reasons.

Even if air travel is safe, the perceived perils are rightfully greater than that of train travel.  Let’s also not forget that over 45,000 people die each year on the road; 15.5 deaths per 100,000 population is greater than the murder rate in many major cities.

It bears repeating:  However you may be traveling this holiday season, stay safe out there!

—Matthew Melzer